Monday, January 12, 2015

Recession Hurts Black College Students More; Best Short Videos ToInspire Young Black Men and Boys; Register for 2015 Daddy Daughter Dance;2015 Schedule of Black Male Achievement and Black Male Development Events

The Great Recession might be
over, but it has left behind widened racial inequalities in unemployment and
wealth.

The unemployment rate for white
Americans over 25 who had not finished high school was 9.7 percent in 2013.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for black Americans who had advanced further on
their educational trajectories, attending but failing to graduate from college,
was 10.5 percent. That's an increase from 2007, before the recession:

This same trend can be seen among
recent college graduates. The unemployment rate for black degree-holders between
the ages of 22 and 27 was 12.4 percent in 2013. The unemployment rate among all
college grads in that age range, by comparison, was 5.6 percent, according to a
May report from the Center for Economics and Policy Research. The number was
even lower for white college graduates in the age range-4.9 percent, the study's
co-author told The New York Times.

That's a gap of 7.5 percentage
points. Compare that to 2007, before the recession, when the gap was just 1.4
percent. Black Americans with college degrees then had a 4.6 percent
unemployment rate, while white Americans with undergraduate degrees were at 3.2
percent, the Times notes.

And the recession hasn't only
affected people coming out of college. The median net worth of white households
was 10 times that of black households' median wealth in 2007-and 13 times the
median wealth of black households in 2013, according to a recxent Pew Research
Center report.

Tentative
Schedule For A Year of Black Male Achievement Events and Programs for 2015

Photo from 100 Black Men/Maryland

Dear Coalition for Black Male Achievement Leaders,

Thank
you for your leadership in the effort to push forward Black Male Achievement in
the United States, Canada and Ghana. We expect other countries of the African
diaspora to join this movement.

Please
see below a Tentative Schedule of Activities for Black Male Achievement
in 2015.
The Coalition for Black Male Achievement will
provide Organizing Guides for each activity and technical support for those who
need it.

Thank
you again for your early support and we hope to assist you in improving the
outcomes for Black males in your city. With your support, 2015 will be a year
of Black Male Achievement and Black Male Development!

Please call 773.285.9600 or email blackstar1000@ameritech.net if you
or your community are interested in participating in the 2015 Year of Black Male
Achievement and Black Male Development activities.

For a society to be truly open,
it must ensure that all of its members have full and equal access to economic,
social, and political opportunities. A core element of our work at the Open
Society Foundations is to challenge and confront those barriers that undermine
such opportunities-particularly for communities that are historically
marginalized and vulnerable.

Over six years ago, the Open
Society Foundations expanded its historic support for racial justice in the
United States by initiating an effort specifically targeted at the challenges
confronting black men and boys: the Campaign for Black Male Achievement
(CBMA). The reason was simple: the United States cannot realize its aspirations
as a society without tackling head-on its legacy that limits the potential of
African American males.

Over the intervening years, CBMA
has led us forward, and we are excited to announce that the campaign will now
spin off to continue its work as an independent organization in a new and
enhanced form.

When CBMA first launched, there
was precious little philanthropy dedicated specifically to addressing the
special racial and gender barriers preventing boys and men of color from
achieving their economic, political, educational, and social potential. In
recent years, a number of foundations have become joint leaders through efforts,
such as the California Endowment's Sons and Brothers campaign, the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation's Forward Promise initiative, and the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation's Black Male Engagement work, among others.

Today, in part due to CBMA's
efforts, there is an unprecedented number of organizations dedicated to carrying
this banner-including the recently formed Executives' Alliance to Expand
Opportunities for Boys and Men of Color, a coalition of more than 40 foundations
(including the Open Society Foundations, which continues to play a leadership
role on the steering committee). And earlier this year, President Obama
announced the My Brother's Keeper initiative, putting black male achievement on
an even more prominent platform for the remainder of this administration and
beyond.

The work done by CBMA's leaders,
Shawn Dove and Rashid Shabazz, has helped start to change the narrative-and
create a black male achievement movement in this country. This has involved
identifying and lifting up innovators and building and expanding a network of
leaders and organizations dedicated to this cause. By spinning off as a
standalone organization this January-a step first suggested by Shawn several
years ago-CBMA is poised to move to the next level.

The new entity will keep the same
name, and the same focus: to help foster the growth, sustainability, and impact
of organizations working to improve the lives of black boys and men. And it will
incorporate the work of the Institute for Black Male Achievement, which was
created in late 2012 with a grant of $4 million from Open Society and eight
funding partners.

Tonya Allen, CEO of the Skillman
Foundation, will serve as CBMA's founding board chair, and will be joined on the
board by Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone and board member
of Open Society's U.S. Programs; William C. Bell, CEO of the Casey Family
Programs; and Wendell Pritchett, interim dean of the University of Pennsylvania
Law School. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation will serve as CBMA's fiscal
sponsor.